Microbial consortia: Nature’s collaborative strategy for agricultural sustainability

Abstract

The soil ecology is negatively impacted by the overuse of chemical fertilizers worldwide, which goes beyond crop and soil threshold limitations. Thus, by employing soil microbes as a source of fertilizers, farmers are currently transitioning from agrochemical to agro-biotechnological methods. For the past few decades, soil microbial populations have been viewed as the key component of sustainable farming techniques in industrialized nations. In addition to maintaining biogeochemical cycles and the general climatic balance of the Earth system, research has unequivocally demonstrated the critical role that interactions and activities of soil microorganisms play in promoting plant growth, improving soil health, and sustaining agricultural productivity. Beneficial microbial strains, such as bacteria, fungus, and algae that are integrated into appropriate carrier materials to enable their application and mobilization in the soil are referred to as biofertilizers. It mineralizes the organic materials in the soil and fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere. Inoculants for biofertilizers might be unique to a single species or a mixture of many strains that are compatible. The symbiotic relationships between two or more compatible microbial strains are known as microbial consortiums. Compared to single-strain inoculants, a microbial consortium significantly increases crop and soil productivity under high stress. Thus, the greatest way to establish sustainable agriculture practices globally is through consortiums and microbial fertilizers.